The new Pokemon GO Update: What does it mean for you?

Pokemon GO’s last update saw a series of new safety warnings, the repair of the footprint issue on the “nearby Pokemon” section and the ability to recustomise your Pokemon trainer. However, it also brought downsides, such as an increased difficulty in catching Pokemon, something which was later confirmed as a bug.

Now, the app has updated again, but what has actually changed?

Pokemon Tracking

The biggest update on the app is a massive change to the Pokemon tracking system. The “nearby” section has been renamed as “Sightings”, and shows Pokemon that are in the area, just like it used to. However, the data is now a lot more up to date, and the Pokemon are shown next to some tall grass.

There’s even bigger changes to come however. A small subset of users have been given an extra new feature as part of a beta test, before it’s rolled out to us all. The new look ‘Nearby’ section will show what Pokemon are at nearby PokeStops, along with a photo of their location. It’s possible to select the Pokemon you want, and navigate to their hiding place. If it works well, chances are we’ll all have this update soon!

After some issues on the previous app version, you can now get the correct XP bonuses when you make special throws to catch a Pokemon. On the Google Play update notes, Niantic confirms that they have “fixed a bug that prevented ‘nice’, ‘great’ and ‘excellent’ Poké Ball throws from awarding the appropriate XP bonuses”.

More Safety Warnings!

In the previous update, the app warned you not to enter dangerous areas, trespass or drive while playing the game. Now, it’s added an extra driving warning. It’s already established that when travelling over a certain speed, the app doesn’t register your distance to help you hatch eggs, but now it wants to make sure you’re definitely not driving while playing.

If the app detects you’re moving over a certain speed, it will remind you not play while driving, and will also ask you to declare you’re a passenger, just to ensure you’re not breaking the rules.

Change Your Name

If on day one, you downloaded Pokemon GO and gave yourself a stupid username, thinking you’d probably not bother playing it after a couple days, you’re in luck. You can now change your username!

If you’ve got an embarrassing trainer name, you can now go to the settings menu, and change it to something better. But be sure to get it right, as you can only change it once!

Battery Saving Mode

One big concern when playing Pokemon GO is just how quickly it can drain your battery. This is why there’s a handy battery saver mode on the app that has always worked fine on Android, but has recently started playing up on iOS. Niantic have now fixed several bugs, also ensuring the iOS battery saver mode is back up and running.

Journal Updates

Not exactly the most exciting of updates, but your Pokemon trainer journal will now show when you hatched eggs, and what Pokemon you received, rather than just ones you have caught. Not much more to say about that really, it’s about as exciting as a rattata.

Other Fixes

The Google Play changelog for the update mentioned that “other fixes” have been made. This will mostly be behind the scenes sort of things, and minor bugs that have been eradicated.

So for now, that’s your lot! Some good bug fixes and some new features, including an exciting new Pokemon tracker that will soon be rolled out to all Pokemon trainers.

It probably won’t be long until there’s another update – after all, there’s always bugs to fix, and it’s likely these updates will come with more new and improved features to improve your Pokemon GO experience.

There’s no way of knowing when the next update will land, but when it does, what would you like to see happen? Have you got a great new feature in mind? A problem that’s really starting to annoy you? Comment below, and tell us what you want from the next Pokemon GO update!

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